


About Time

by Kaytoko



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Royai - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-20 01:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1492042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaytoko/pseuds/Kaytoko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roy and Riza go on a date for an undercover mission, but Roy can't figure out why everyone seems to be congratulating him instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	About Time

It was  _supposed_  to be an undercover mission. There was suspicion that one of the sketchier officials in the office was seeing someone suspected to be in the recent organized crime group rising in Central City, and to keep the rumors from spreading, Roy kept his mission to out the man exclusively between him and Riza. It wasn't the first time that the two of them had done undercover missions, and it certainly wasn't going to be the last, but there was something about this one in particular that caused people to react strangely. Maybe it was because they didn't  _know_  that it was supposed to be a mission, but everyone seemed to be particularly  _excited_  that the two of them were going out on a date and Roy just couldn't understand why.

He had chosen to dress in a set of nice clothes, a suit and tie and a nice matching jacket, mostly because their target happened to have a taste for the nicer things in life. He requested that Riza also dress for the occasion, which she agreed to simply, and left work early to go get dressed. He was on his way to go pick her up when he passed by one of his subordinates who gave him a low whistle.

"Looking pretty sharp there, Colonel," Breda said as he walked by in the hallway. "Going somewhere?"

"I've got a date," Roy responded.

"With the Lieutenant?" Breda supplied with a note of excitement. 

"Yes, but... How did you know?" Roy said with a note of uncertainty. Had he been too obvious? Did he blow the undercover mission before it had even started?

Breda gave him a noncommittal shrug and a grin. "I promise I won't tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me," he said with a mock salute. "Just do me a favor and have fun."

Roy returned the salute, a little confused as his subordinate walked away. "Okay...? That was a little weird."

He might have just brushed it off as nothing until he ran into  _another_  one of his coworkers who paused for a minute to comment on how he looked. Armstrong nodded as he walked by, flashing him a strange thumbs-up and a wink that had Roy really questioning whether or not this undercover mission was  _really_  that undercover. He started mentally going through his list of potential blabbermouths as he made his way over to the apartments that Riza lived in. As a popular place for working military people to reside, it was almost expected that he was bound to run into one more person and Falman was the one to exit the lift as he was walking in. 

"Good luck on your date tonight, Colonel," he said with a small salute. 

"Who told you?!" Roy barked, but the grey-haired man had already slipped away, probably expecting his superior's response. Grinding his teeth, Roy rode the lift up to Riza's floor, making a list of people he was going to potentially kill by the end of the night. He knocked on her door impatiently, already complaining as she went to open the door.

"Lieutenant, there's been a breach in the mission. Somebody has been telling people that we are--" His mouth went slack as he looked over at her, his words falling silent upon his tongue. Her blonde hair was down and spilling over her shoulders in soft curls and she wore a floor-length sparkling red dress that clung to the curves he never usually saw under the standard military uniform. She was absolutely stunning. 

"Colonel," she snapped, pulling him out of his reverie. "What are you talking about? Who snitched?"

"Ah... Um," He struggled to remember just what he was trying to say to her earlier, swallowing thickly through his now dry throat. Was it getting hot in here? "What?"

"You said somebody knew about our mission," she clarified. "Who was it?"

"Oh... Um, just some people we know-- You know, it's not really that important," he said waving it off and holding out his arm. "We have a dinner to attend."

She looked at him uncertainly for a moment before taking his outstretched arm and locking her apartment behind her. "If you say so..."

He lead them toward the elevator and he took a moment to give her a small, appreciative smile. "You look absolutely beautiful, Lieutenant."

She smiled politely in return. "You as well, Colonel." 

Her response threw him off a little as they entered the lift. He was feeling a little conflicted. He had always had a certain kind of affection for Riza, built upon years of respect, trust and mutual duty. If he dared to be honest with himself, he might even admit that he loved her. But duty had always come first, and she understood that and kept their mutual devotion to one another entirely platonic. But after seeing her that night, he was starting to realized that she really  _was_  beautiful. In fact, he was having a hard time keeping his eyes off her. But they had a mission to complete, and he had to be careful not to let himself be too distracted by how attractive he thought his subordinate to be.

Leaning in a little closer, he asked her, "Could I call you Riza tonight? People might get suspicious if we don't act more intimate."

She didn't even flinch. "Of course, Colonel."

He frowned slightly as the lift came to a stop on the ground floor. "That means you'll have to call me Roy, not Colonel." 

"Right. Sorry... R-Roy."

She glanced over at him, her cheeks slightly pink, and Roy felt his heat skip a solid two beats. He  _really_  had to be careful, or he might actually forget the reason that they were even going out to dinner that night in the first place. 

Of course, he tried to keep things strictly professional by discussing their mission lowly to her as they walked the sidewalk to the restaurant, but he was having a hard time doing so when he realized just  _how_  many eyes were on them. Or mainly,  _her_. Riza seemed oblivious to the attention she was getting for the most part, but Roy could see every lingering glace and every double take and quite frankly, he was feeling just a little bit overprotective about it. He kept his arm around hers and glared down every man that bothered to stare at her until they turned away ashamed or ran. He was feeling rather proud of himself until he saw the put-out look she was giving him.

"Honestly, Colonel, are you even listening to me?" she asked.

He frowned. "I thought I told you to call me Roy."

"I will only do that when you start treating this mission seriously," she responded sharply. 

He let his shoulders sag a little bit. "Yes, ma'am."

They were almost to their destination when one more distraction decided to present itself in the form of Jean Havoc. The moment Roy heard his long-time friend's distinctive laugh at his wheelchair situated at a nice table outside a restaurant he particularly liked to frequent, he felt his stomach drop for some reason. If so many people had already commented on his and Riza's mission so far, Havoc  _definitely_  would as well. Gripping his hold on his Lieutenant a little tighter, he tried to walk a little faster to get out of Havoc's view, but his efforts meant nothing when he heard his name being called.

"Hey! Colonel!" Havoc shouted. "Over here!"

Roy couldn't keep the irritated look off his face when he turned to look at his so-called friend. The blond man was grinning, a cigarette between his teeth and a few lady friends sitting at the table beside him. He lifted his drink in greeting, completely oblivious to the glare Roy was pinning him with at that point.

"Hey, you're looking pretty fancy tonight," Havoc commented. "Going out somewhere nice? Who's your pretty lady-friend?"

"Hello, second Lieutenant Havoc," Riza greeted politely.

Havoc's eyebrows shot up, his cigarette falling from his mouth in surprise. "Hawkeye?" he said in surprise. She nodded simply and he leaned back in his wheelchair in muted shock. Roy put his hand over his eyes, knowing where this was going next.

"Well hot damn!" Havoc announced, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face. "It's about damn time the two of you got your act together! We've only had to deal with the obvious sexual tension for like ten years now--"

"Enough," Roy interrupted, not daring to look over at Riza now that he was sure his cheeks were bright red. "We're not on a date. We're on a mission."

"Sure, sure, whatever you say," Havoc said waving his hand dismissively. "Just know that I'm happy for the both of you! I knew it was only a matter of time!"

Roy had to suppress his desire to just light the whole table on fire and turned on his heel and left without a word. From beside him, he heard a soft laugh come from Riza and looked over at her slightly in disbelief. Her cheeks were pink like his, but her lips were drawn up in a smirk. 

"I think I understand where the snitch is coming from now," she said. "Everybody seems to think that we're dating."

Something in Roy's chest twinged at the way she said it, like it was a matter of fact rather than a rumor. He suddenly felt nervous, despite himself, and he gave a small bark of a laugh to try and cover it up. "They're all being ridiculous!" he said a little too loudly. "Us? Dating? Ridiculous."

"Yes," Riza agreed. "It is quite preposterous of them to think that." 

He laughed a little bit, a strange disappointment bubbling in his chest at her simple agreement. He knew that he was lying. There was nothing more he wanted than to treat her the way she deserved to be treated, but he really didn't think he deserved the love and affection of such a self-respecting woman like Riza Hawkeye. He knew he wasn't good enough for her, and he worried that she was starting to realize that as well.

He kept his thoughts to himself as they entered the high-end restaurant, officially starting their mission. They sat at a small two-person table complete with a white table cloth, a candle and a perfect view of their target. From what they understood, the man named Alfred Hall was feeding information and money to the pretty young thing that he called his "girlfriend". She was the lesser known daughter of the man in charge of the rising underground crime organization and the go-between for Hall and her father. Dressed in a skimpy black dress and her dark hair tied up, she laughed loudly and ostentatiously at everything the middle-aged man said, refilling his sake cup at every chance she had. Their goal was simple: intercept the exchange of money and information and expose him for all the lies he had been telling. It was easy. 

Or, at least, it was supposed to be. But once again, Roy was distracted more by the beautiful woman he now saw across a table from. He hadn't ever noticed before, but Riza's fingernails were always cut short to keep them from being a nuisance in her job, but for their dinner that night, she had painted them a bright red. The color feminized her, just like everything else she had done to dress up had as well. She was so unbelievably stunning. Luckily, the waiter came by with a chilled bottle of wine just in time to distract Roy from the strange thoughts his mind was thinking again, and he made it a point to pour them both a glass of the sparkling white wine.

"You know," she said after a few sips of her glass. "I've been thinking."

He also took a sip of his own wine, letting his eyes linger on the way her hair fell over her shoulder. "Of what?"

"Maybe Havoc's right."

Roy choked on his drink. "What?!"

She looked down at her hands, her fingers picking at the edge of her napkin. "It's been a year since we overthrew the Führer," she said softly. He stared at her, not following what she was trying to say. She glanced up after a moment, her blue eyes earnestly just  _looking_  at him. "I don't think anyone would blame us for wanting to finally move on with our lives, Roy."

He felt his mouth go dry. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. He didn't know what to say. She was so much more open to him in that moment than he had seen her in  _years_ , or at least, not since that horrible experience down in the tunnels beneath the 3rd Laboratory. But looking at her now, he could see everything she usually tried to hide: all the hopes, the secrets, and the emotions that came along with them. She looked hesitant and nervous, but overall just honest. She wanted him to agree with her, to finally forsake the facade they had both put up in the sake of duty. And if he was being honest with himself, he wanted nothing more than to do exactly that.

He opened his mouth to respond when her eyes darted to the side and she started to rise from her seat. "There it goes," she announced.

It took Roy a minute to realize what she meant as she pulled a gun out from the thigh holster she had on under her skirt. He jumped out of his own seat as he saw their target slide a thick packet across their dining table to his date's delight. Riza was already half way there, her gun raised at the back of the younger girl's head, shouting "Freeze!". He followed after her to snatch the back of the older man's coat to keep him from running. 

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said to the man.

Riza pulled out a pair of cuffs from her holster and put the younger girl in cuffs. "You both are under arrest for conspiring against the military and trading top secret information with organized crime."

The man protested a little, but in the end allowed himself to be cuffed by Roy. Keeping his snapping fingers poised as a potential threat, Roy looked back over at Riza who was just finishing telling the waiter to call the military police. 

"Did you mean what you said?" he asked her. "You know we can't go back if we decide to actually move on with our lives. Everyone will know about the nature of our relationship."

"I think it's pretty clear that they already know," she responded. 

Roy grimaced a little bit, realizing that it was true. "But..." he said a little softer. "Are we really ready?"

Riza looked over at him then, her expression soft and understanding, just as she had always been throughout their entire relationship. "Maybe. Maybe not. But I think our friends are right. It  _is_  about time that we stop hiding and actually start accepting the happiness in our lives."

Roy smiled to himself at her words and allowed the military policemen to take Alfred Hall away for him. Standing close to Riza, he reached out to take her hand in his, lifting his knuckles up so that he could kiss them lightly. 

"I think you're right, " he said quietly. "And I believe I owe you a proper first date. Would you like to go with me to get some Italian food? I know a place even better than this one."

She laughed, a wide genuine smile spreading across her lips for the first time that night. "I would love that."


End file.
